One rock solid rule of editorial writing is, if you're against something, you always want to find a way to compare it to Hitler. This works because people hate Hitler a lot—and, through the simple principle of transference, they will have an equal amount of hate for whichever thing you compare to Hitler. This is just a basic "trick of the trade" which cannot backfire.

You don't have to tell that to Lisa M. Keefe, editor of meat industry trade magazine Meatingplace! She already knows it. Here editorial in the January issue is a modern masterpiece of Reasonable Comparisons of Mundane Things to Hitler. What is like Hitler today? The Humane Society is like Hitler.

History has hung Neville Chamberlain out to dry for trying to strike a deal with Hitler on the eve of World War II that would grant Germany some disputed lands that it claimed. In exchange, Britain's prime minister exacted a promise from Hitler not to invade Poland. This "policy of appeasement," as it's come to be called, failed miserably, in no small part because Hitler never intended to honor his side of the agreement. Poor Neville looked like he was played for a fool.

Readers think John Hansen, head of the Nebraska Farmers Union (NeFU), is being played for a fool in his efforts to collaborate with the Humane Society of the United States on issues of animal handling in that state.